从宁波出发，持续16小时的飞行，跨越10571公里。宁波诺丁汉大学的9名志愿者不久前远赴保加利亚首都索非亚，为保加利亚民众带去了为期两周的中国特色文化艺术培训课程。

　　今年是中保建交70年，两国历史文化悠久，传统友谊历久弥新。近年来，在“一带一路”倡议的推动下，双方的文化交流迅速升温，精彩纷呈。

　　此次开展的“文艺出海”特色文化艺术培训，由索非亚中国文化中心主办，旨在共享人类艺术、传播中国及宁波本地文化，为期一年，覆盖四大板块、九大内容，包括中国书法、国画、武术、中医、舞蹈、音乐、非遗等，2019 年度计划开展12 期，每月一期，共计12期课程约360堂课，预计将为500多位保加利亚公民提供理论与技能的学习与实践。

　　首批赴保加利亚开展志愿服务的“先行军”共10位，其中有9位来自宁诺，7位是大一的新生，带队的是宁波诺丁汉大学青年志愿者协会会长穆希雅和学生事务与发展中心的Summer He老师。首期课程为八极拳和中国书画。教授八极拳的崔振峰是吴氏开门八极拳九世弟子，巧的是，他也是一位宁诺的毕业生。教授书画的是大一学生邱伊霖和孙郡，另外7名志愿者则配合教学，并特别准备了两门兴趣课——剪纸和脸谱。

　　出发前，队员们都作了比较充分的准备，带上上课所需的各种材料和教具。家在四川重庆的彭少杨还精挑细选了一批变脸面具，打算在脸谱课后送给当地朋友。

　　当地时间6月20日，9名志愿者到达索非亚机场。等待行李时，有人注意到一幅印有天一阁、写着“海丝古港·微笑宁波”的城市宣传海报。“感觉挺奇妙。才从宁波出发，下飞机又看到了宁波”。

　　穆希雅说，第一节书画课，保加利亚民众给了所有人一个大大的惊喜。“因为八极拳的课程一开始人数不多，我们想书画课可能也没多少人，甚至在担心如果只有一两个人来该怎么办。等到课快开始的时候，来的人越来越多，多到超乎想象，多到现场没有一个空位，多到好多人只能站在后面或者坐在地上听课了。”

　　有一位妈妈带着两个孩子，一家四口都来了。因为来得有些晚，现场已经没有位置，就盘腿坐在地上写字、画画。下课的时候，两位小朋友说一点也不累，而且坐在地上写书法像个艺术家。这位妈妈说，她曾两次去过中国，非常喜欢，所以很想让孩子们接触传统的中国书画。

　　让志愿者邱依霖印象深刻的是艺术家乔治。“国画课上，他画的整个线条很不一样，他创作的竹子，几乎是重造了，但有一种别样的美感。”

　　短短的两周时间，志愿者们向保加利亚民众介绍了中国书法和国画、剪纸艺术和脸谱文化，教大家画竹子，写“福”字，剪“喜”字，创作脸谱。

　　志愿者赖姝怡说，来上课的每个人都异常认真，从最开始不懂如何握笔，到两节课后所有人都能写出一个“福”字。上完国画课后，大家都能画出一张水墨竹子图了。脸谱课上，很多人已经添上自己的元素，设计创造出具有异国风情的脸谱。

　　穆希雅说，在收集调查问卷的时候，发现一张问卷上用花体写了“Thank you”，才知道有一个当地的艺术家来我们这里上课。他很喜欢我们的课，还免费设计了很多作品送给我们。我希望他能够在之后的作品中加入更多的中国元素，送了很多纸张和笔给他，他激动得抱着我说谢谢。最后一节课，我们跟他道别的时候，他偷偷哭了，说一定会来中国找我们。

　　几位志愿者都提到了当地市民对中国文化的热情。有一位对于中国文化非常感兴趣的大叔，他在书法课上让同学们教他用中文写“feel like home”，他说，因为我们的热情让他感觉“像家一样”。后来我们才知道，他住在索非亚的另一边，每次来上课都需要坐很长时间的车，但他从来没有缺席过。有一个女孩子学习中文已经有5个月了，即将去浙江大学交换学习。她每节课都会早到一个小时，帮忙摆放教学用品，下课也会留下一起收拾。有一天下课后，她还带几位志愿者去了当地的酒吧，让几位志愿者对于当地人的生活有了更多了解。道别的时候，她很用力地抱了抱同学们：我相信我们一定会在中国再见面。

　　“这趟志愿服务最大的收获，不是英语口语水平的提高，而是在与当地市民的交流相处中，我既领略了别样的艺术文化，也为中国文化自豪。”负责国画教学的孙郡说。

　　近年来，一批批宁波诺丁汉大学的学子走出国门，奔赴世界各地从事志愿服务。据不完全统计，宁诺每年有数百名学生利用寒暑假时间，到全球35个国家和地区参加志愿活动。2017年，就有186名学生到24个“一带一路”沿线国家教中文、讲历史、教做中国菜……

　　索非亚中国文化中心的负责人屠雪松对宁诺学子的表现给予了高度评价。“宁诺的国际化程度很高，这也是我们最初选择宁诺学生开第一课的原因。事实证明，这个选择是正确的。这两周中，我们看到同学们用真诚热情的态度、自信流利的表达和创新的授课形式讲述中国故事，展现了文化传播使者的风采。”

　　而当地市民对于中国文化的热情，也真的很打动我们的同学。穆希雅说，“哪怕你犯了一些小错误，或者课程内容没有达到预期，他们永远非常包容，笑着说没关系。”所以虽然同学们上课很累，但还是非常期待下一节课，希望能早点见到他们。比如在脸谱课上，同学们会告诉他们中国年轻人对于传统京剧的看法；在他们安静地画脸谱的时候，询问大家的意见后，会播放年轻人喜欢听的中国歌曲作为背景音乐，大家都很开心。

　　宁诺学生事务与发展中心主任张赟也骄傲地说，宁诺的志愿服务远超出志愿服务本身。志愿者们充分发挥自己跨文化交流的优势，用创新的方式传播和谐的中国声音，用实际行动在为中国文化的传播、“一带一路”建设作出自己的贡献。期待宁诺志愿者这个品牌，会成为世界了解中国、了解宁波的一个窗口。

　　Volunteers from UNNC Teach Art and Culture in Sofia, Bulgaria

A group of nine volunteers from University of Nottingham Ningbo China flew 16 hours and covered a distance of 10,571 kilometers before they landed in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria on June 20, 2018. The group included seven first-year students and two graduates. They were accompanied by a teacher.

The group spent two weeks there teaching traditional Chinese art and culture to local people at the China Cultural Center in Sophia. Now the volunteers are back.

The volunteers came to work at a project sponsored by China Cultural Center in Sofia. The project in 2019 is designed to have 12 monthly episodes and all the volunteers are from UNNC in Ningbo. Each episode is to be 2 weeks long and offer 30 classes. It is expected the project this year will enable over 500 Bulgarians to acquaint themselves with the essentials of Chinese art and culture.

Cui Zhenfeng taught Taiji (shadow boxing) to Bulgarian enthusiasts. He is a disciple of a Wushu master surnamed Wu and a graduate of UNNC. Freshmen Qiu Yilin and Sun Jun were engaged in art teaching. Other volunteers acted as assistants in classroom. The volunteers also gave Bulgarians a hands-on experience in paper-cutting and facial masks used in Chinese operas.

The young volunteers were fully prepared for teaching and they had brought a full quantity of teaching supplies such as brush pens and paper, facial masks and scissors, etc. But they didn’t expect to see so many people show up. The volunteers were delightfully surprised and impressed with the enthusiasm of these local people.

A woman brought her two children to an art class. As there were no seats for latecomers, the two children sat on the floor and practiced what they had just learned. They said sitting on the floor and creating artworks made them feel like artists. The woman said she had visited China twice and was deeply impressed. She would like her children to learn traditional Chinese art and culture.

The volunteers found someone had written “thank you” in a beautiful English style at the end of a questionnaire. It turned out that the artistic words were written by an artist. He gave the volunteers some artworks he had designed. When given some art materials such as paper and brush pens, he was very happy. After the last class, the volunteers hugged him goodbye and he wept. He said he would come to see them in China. A middle-aged man asked volunteers to write in Chinese the English words “feel like home”. The volunteers wrote that in a calligraphic style. After chatting with him, the volunteers found that he needed to travel a long way from the other side of Sophia to attend classes at the China Cultural Center. He was never late.

Toward the end of the two weeks, all those who had attended the classes could write a few Chinese words and paint a simple bamboo painting. Some of the bamboos painted by Bulgarians showed delightful compositions and ebullient brushworks.

Tu Xusong, director of China Cultural Center in Sophia, spoke highly of the UNNC volunteers. “We picked them to start the monthly project because we knew the university was highly international. It turns out that ours is a right decision. The volunteers spared no efforts to express themselves and the classes they taught were innovative and delightful. They served as envoys of Chinese culture and the Chinese story they presented was good,” remarks Tu.

In recent years, UNNC carries out various volunteers programs. Incomplete data indicate that hundreds of UNNC students are engaged in these programs in 35 countries and regions during summer and winter breaks.

The volunteer services of UNNC are more than work. Volunteers give full play to their capabilities to disseminate Chinese culture to the world. UNNC volunteers have been contributing to China’s Belt & Road initiative. “It is hoped that the UNNC volunteer service will be a brand name and that it will enable the world to know more about China and Ningbo in particular,” comments proudly Zhang Yun, director of the UNNC center for student affairs and development.